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Newcastle

Read more about the article August 15, 1945: the war is over!
Celebrations in Newcastle, NSW, for the end of World War 2, August 15, 1945.

August 15, 1945: the war is over!

Never in Newcastle’s history has there been a day of such celebration as VP Day. August 15, 1945, was the day the long-awaited news came that Japan had surrendered and the war was finally all over. In May the news that Hitler was finished was received with pleasure, but the direct threat to Australia had been from Japan and it wasn’t until the atomic bomb was dropped and Japan capitulated that the pent-up emotion was able to be released. The darkest days of the war, for most Novocastrians, had been three years earlier when a Japanese…

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Read more about the article Newcastle under shellfire, 1942

Newcastle under shellfire, 1942

Many incidents of the Second World War remained unknown to most of the Australian public until the authorities considered it safe to discuss them. They feared panic among the population and damage to morale. But submarine attacks on the east coast cities were impossible to hide. On May 31 and June 1, 1942, mini-submarines, launched from a large Japanese mother-sub, the I-24, attacked Sydney Harbour.The subs caused havoc in the harbour, sinking the converted ferry Kuttabul with the loss of 21 lives before they were themselves destroyed. A few days later I-24 attacked and sank the…

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Read more about the article Newcastle’s lost boat harbour

Newcastle’s lost boat harbour

In its early days Newcastle was linked to its harbour. Its streets ran down to the water and it had a large undercover produce market at the harbour end of Market Street where farm products from the highly fertile river islands were traded. Incorporated in this market complex was a boat harbour, the headquarters of the watermen who used to take goods to the ships that came into port. The ferry wharves were also close by. But the demands of the state government meant this situation couldn't last. First, the government eliminated easy access to the…

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